URL: https://democracy.wirral.gov.uk/ieDecisionDetails.aspx?ID=6245

Decision Maker: Director of Finance

Outcome: Recommendations Approved

Is Key Decision?: No

Is Callable In?: No

Purpose:

Content: The Director of Finance has approved a variation of the contract for the supply, implementation and maintenance of an Adults and Childrens Care Case Management System  with  Liquidlogic Ltd with the effect of moving the hosting of the Liquidlogic Children’s, Adults and Education case management system from on-site hosting on Council owned IT infrastructure to a cloud based system at an additional estimated cost of £457,512 for the remaining 28 months of the contract term.   The Council has a contract with Liquidlogic Ltd for the provision of Client Care Case Management Information System pursuant to a contact which commenced on 2nd  December 2013 and ends on 1st  December 2028.   The Council hosts the Liquidlogic system, and many other systems on Council owned and managed IT hardware in its data centres. The hardware in Council managed data centres will be end of life early 2027. It is mandatory that a different solution is identified to maintain access and security to this critical system used to support Adult and Children’s directorate’s social care systems.   The move must be planned in advance and executed well before February 2027.   The value of the contract over its full term (without this variation) is estimated at £7.3m. The decision will lead to an increased annual cost of £172,269+VAT (subject to APR increase) and an initial set-up cost of £55,551+VAT.   On the basis of an implementation date for the contract variation of 1st of August  2026 the total additional cost of the variation will be £457,512+VAT for the remainder of the contract term.   The original contract makes provision for a contract variation of this nature. The contract variation is in accordance with Regulation 72(1)(c) of the Public Contract Regulations 2015 which provides that contracts may be modified without a new procurement procedure in circumstances where:   (i)  the need for modification has been brought about by circumstances which a diligent contracting authority could not have foreseen; (ii)  the modification does not alter the overall nature of the contract; and (iii)  any increase in price does not exceed 50% of the value of the original contract or framework agreement.   The contract variation is also in accordance with the Council’s Contract Procedure Rules   This decision provides value for money, reduces risk of the system being available or vulnerable to cyber security incidents, and is in line with wider digital strategy to host systems in the cloud, supporting future technology transformation.   2 other options have been considered:   1)  Move to a data centre or cloud hosting managed by the Council; or 2)  Move to a different 3rd party data centre.   The total cost of these 2 options is similar but the decision offers additional benefits in terms of improved vendor support, faster upgrades in future reducing business impact, simplicity of internal management. Importantly the decision enables the rolling out of some new features only being available to customers hosted in a cloud environment. The decision has been taken under Part 3 Section C - Overview and Scheme of Delegations of Authority to Officers as the decision is not reserved to a Committee or Sub-Committee and the Director is satisfied that paragraphs 2(a) to 2(c) apply.   Background Papers   Contract with Liquidlogic Ltd for the provision of Client Care Case Management Information System Public Contract Regulations 2015 Council’s Contract Procedure Rules

Date of Decision: March 31, 2026